In recent years, Lafayette's Old Town district has undergone an economic Renaissance of sorts, thanks largely to an emphasis on the arts and aesthetics.

Since the city established its arts-friendly atmosphere, empty storefronts filled, new restaurants cropped up and jobs have been created.

As a founding member of pARTiculars Art Gallery and Teaching Studio, Old Town Lafayette artist Marissa Perry Saints is one of several local artists at the heart of Lafayette's newly official "creative, diverse, eclectic" identity.

But Perry Saints -- who also serves as a lead artist in Lafayette's Alley Art Amazin' program -- has seen the dramatic affect art can not only have on a local economy, but individual lives.

Perry Saints is the founder of Dsenyo -- a business she considers more of a "social enterprise" with a core mission of using art and textiles to help women and artisians work their way out of poverty. For the past seven years, she has been traveling twice a year to the east African nation of Malawi, working with producers of wax-print fabrics and local tailors to generate several lines of textile products to be sold at more than 80 locations throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Most of the work is done on treadel, or foot-pump, sewing machines because most villages lack electricity. Dsenyo's workers are trained to sew by nonprofits.

They produce handbags, kids toys, flower hair clips, aprons and home décor such as table runners, place mats, napkins and potholders.

"We're really the first company working in Malawi to export these types of products," Perry Saints said. "Their economy is really agriculture based."

Perry Saints buys fabric -- typically vibrant prints -- from local textile mills and all the sewing is done in Malawi, though her tastes often clash with the local trends.

"I try to choose things that are abstract patterns, leaves and floral motiffs," said Perry Saints, a former graphic designer with a degree in economic development. "That's what sells here. Over there, they like some really quirky patterns -- with images of cell phones or computers in the fabric, broom motiffs."

Dsenyo -- a member of the Fair Trade Federation -- started out with 20 tailors but now has eight groups of workers in separate villages, employing a total of 90 people who do the sewing. Perry Saints said the business pays its employees two to four times the national minimum wage in Malawi.

"They don't want a handout. They want a job; they want to support their families," Perry Saints said. "One woman was so excited because she could put her kids back in school. Another woman didn't have shoes."

Many of the women employed by Dsenyo are HIV positive. While Malawi's government provides free treatment, most residents can't afford transportation from their villages to medical centers. Some of Dsenyo's tailors first met as membors of an HIV widows support group.

Despite starting out as an "eco-chic" fashion company, Perry Saints admits the story behind the products is largely what sells for Dsenyo, which means "design" in Malawi's native Chichewa language.

"I'd say that's at least half of the appeal to our products," Perry Saints said. "People are drawn to the products, and they want to support what we're doing." Dsenyo sells at two locations in Boulder County -- pARTiculars in Lafayette and at Momentum in Boulder.

From 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, pARTiculars Art Gallery and Teaching Studio, 401 South Public Road, will host its February Fiber Arts Show & Demos. The schedule includes: 1 p.m. -- Ellen Smith. Ellen will demonstrate how she creates her quilted note cards. As part of the demo, participants will be able to select fabric for Ellen to make into a custom card.

2 p.m. -- Jane Gnoit. Marbling on fabric, with acrylic paint, is one of the most fun of all the surface design techniques that art quilters are using today. Depending upon manipulation the look can either be very organic or more traditional.

3 p.m. -- Carol Watkins. Carol will demonstrate a variety of free motion stitching used to embellish fabric. This enhanced fabric can then be sewn into a handbag, iPad cover or Kindle cover.

4 p.m. -- Suzanne Connolly-Howes. Felted wool was the very first fabric ever invented. Suzanne will do a few demonstrations to show how this ancient technique of binding wool fibers together makes a very versatile and strong fabric that has been used in every cold climate around the world for centuries. Participants will be able to play with needle felting techniques to add design to felted pieces.

5 p.m. -- Marissa Perry Saints . Marissa Perry Saints, Founder of Dsenyo, will dive into the curious history of African wax print textiles. Enjoy a rich, colorful photo tour of her travels in Africa while hearing about what Dutch currency, Indonesian batik and African tribal arts all have in common.